The present invention refers to a device for and a method of integrating an arrangement of a number of computerised essentially arbitrary client systems, being independent of each other, by permitting communication between the client systems, each client system having a system-specific structure and being adapted to process information in a system-specific native format.
Furthermore, the invention refers to a method of integrating an arrangement of a number of computerised essentially arbitrary client systems, being independent of each other, by permitting communication between the client systems, each client system having a system-specific structure and being adapted to process information in a system-specific native format,
Today, firms and organisations frequently rely for their daily processes on a number of different software applications on one or several hardware structures, i.e. computerised client systems, which are operating independently of each other. There is a need to integrate such client systems to make them co-operate and exchange data. Such integration is provided by connecting pairs of client systems to each other at a low system level by means of translation programs using different communication protocols. However, in order to obtain a global integration of the different client systems a myriad of specialised system-to-system programs is provided. The result is a spaghetti-like tangle of complex system inter-dependencies forming an effective gridlock for any further system development. Moreover, since the different client systems may not operate independently of each other any longer, the performance and the efficiency of each system is significantly reduced.
It has been proposed to integrate a number of independent client systems by the provision of an integrating server to which all of said client systems are connected. However, such an integrating server quickly grows to a very complicated client system which requires a considerable amount of computer programming work. In addition, such an integrating server need to be modified each time a new client system is to be integrated, or when a software application or a hardware structure is upgraded or replaced in any of the client systems.